[  Reprinted  jrom  The  Library  Journal,  September ,  1911] 


SOME  PHASES  OF  REFERENCE  WORK* 

By  John  Boynton  Kaiser,  Legislative  Reference  Librarian,  Texas  State  Library, 

Austin,  Tex . 


Discussing  '‘Some  phases  of  reference 
work”  it  is  my  purpose  to  describe  the  refer¬ 
ence  facilities  of  the  Texas  State  Library,  to 
explain  what  we  are  doing  there,  and  to 
show  wherein  our  facilities  are  such  that 
they  can  be  made  of  service  to  other  libra¬ 
ries  throughout  the  state.  Beyond  this  I 
shall  just  touch  upon  some  miscellaneous 
phases  of  the  general  subject. 

At  Austin  we  have  doubtless  the  finest 
and  most  complete  collection  of  books  and 
manuscripts  relating  to  Texas  that  can  be 
found  gathered  together  in  any  one  place. 
These  resources,  constantly  in  active  use, 
have  been  partially  made  known  to  the  pub¬ 
lic  through  the  recent  reports  of  the  State 
Library,  the  “Texas  reference  collection” 
published  in  Texas  Libraries  last  November, 
and  the  paper  by  the  librarian  on  “Some  his¬ 
torical  activities  of  the  Texas  Library  and 
Historical  Commission”  in  the  April  Quar¬ 
terly  of  the  Texas  State  Historical  Associa¬ 
tion,  and  shall  receive  no  further  mention 
at  this  time. 

With  the  literature  of  American  history, 
general,  local  and  by  periods,  we  are  fairly 
well  supplied.  Among  the  larger  sets  of 
reference  value  might  be  mentioned  the 
American  Nation  Series  (28  v.),  Harper’s 
Encyclopedia  of  United  States  History  (10 
v.),  McMaster  (7  v.),  Woodrow  Wilson  (5 
v.),  Rhodes  (7  v.),  Adams  History  of  the 
United  States,  1801-1817,  in  9  volumes; 
Parkman,  Bancroft,  Justin  Winsor,  the  Con¬ 
federate  Military  History  (12  v.),  the  Gov¬ 
ernment’s  Rebellion  records  in  about  one 
hundred  and  sixty  volumes,  and  the  set  en¬ 
titled  “The  South  in  the  building  of  the 
nation”  (12  v.). 

Our  Canadian  and  Mexican  resources  far 
surpass  our  historical  material  for  the  va¬ 
rious  European  countries.  From  Mexico  we 
shall  receive  the  documents  issued  by  the 
government  commemorative  of  the  recent 
centennial  celebration,  six  volumes  of  which 
are  now  on  their  way  to  us. 

*  Read  at  the  meeting  of  the  Texas  Library  Asso¬ 
ciation,  Corsicana,  Texas,  May  4-5,  1911. 


In  biography  the  Dictionary  of  national 
biography,  Appleton’s  Cyclopedia  of  Amer¬ 
ican  biography,  and  some  other  general 
works  are  supplemented  by  a  goodly  number 
of  individual  lives,  including  naturally  those 
of  many  illustrious  Southerners. 

The  State  Library  is  at  present  forced  to 
neglect  the  arts  and  sciences,  and  our  gen¬ 
eral  literature  collection  falls  very  far  short 
of  what  it  should  be ;  religion  and  philosophy 
are  likewise  inadequately  represented.  Un¬ 
fortunate  as  it  is  that  our  library  is  lacking 
in  these  particulars,  yet  we  have  in  Austin 
the  University  Library  to  tall  back  upon, 
and  our  deficiencies  are  less  serious  than 
would  otherwise  be  true. 

In  sociology,  economics,  government  and 
statute  law  we  have  a  substantial  nucleus  for 
a  well-rounded,  useful  and  up-to-date  library 
as  our  purchases  have  of  late  been  made 
largely  with  the  idea  of  building  up  this  sec¬ 
tion  for  legislative  reference  purposes,  and 
it  is  largely,  though  by  no  means  entirely,  in 
this  field  that  we  find  use  for  the  material 
contained  in  the  national  and  state  docu¬ 
ments,  of  which  we  receive  the  former  as  a 
depository  library.  Our  set  includes  the 
Patent  Office  publications. 

To  our  collection  of  general  encyclopedias, 
almanacs  and  general  reference  books  we 
have  just  added  the  new  eleventh  edition  of 
the  Britannica. 

Our  periodical  file  is  small,  few  sets  ante¬ 
dating  1900,  but  since  that  date  we  have  a 
useful  collection  to  which  the  “Readers 
guide”  furnishes  a  ready  key.  The  current 
list  includes  some  seventy-five  or  more  rep¬ 
resentative  journals,  and  we  are  well  sup¬ 
plied  with  Texas  newspapers  of  the  past  and 
present.  Our  bibliography  and  library  econ¬ 
omy  resources  are  constantly  growing. 

The  legislative  reference  section  is  simply 
another  practical  application  of  the  principle 
--old  when  Rameses  was  born  —  that  the 
wise  man  will  profit  from  the  experience  of 
others  and  will  build  his  stronghold  on  their 
tried  foundations.  In  this  section  we  have 
endeavored  to  provide  for  the  legislator  the 


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published  experience  of  others  who  have  had 
occasion  to  solve  the  same  problems  he  is 
facing,  and  to  furnish  him  with  an  array  of 
facts  to  oppose  any  one  who  becomes  as 
a  learned  jurist  once  phrased  it,  “intoxicated 
by  the  exuberance  of  his  own  verbosity,” 
and  forgets  that  facts,  not  eloquence,  should 
form  the  basis  of  legislation.  To  be  fore¬ 
armed  by  being  forewarned  is  here  the  secret 
of  success.  Laws  passed  and  bills  proposed 
by  recent  legislatures,  past  messages  of  gov¬ 
ernors,  current  campaign  speeches,  the  de¬ 
mands  of  labor  and  other  organizations  and 
political  parties,  and  replies  to  direct  inquiry 
give  us  a  clue  to  some  of  the  subjects  an 
approaching  legislature  may  be  expected  to 
consider,  unless  its  deliberations  are  over¬ 
shadowed  by  the  too  strenuous  efforts  of  in¬ 
dividual  members  to  solve  the  personal  equa¬ 
tion  of  “Who’s  who,”  or  the  all-important 
question  of  “When  is  a  Prohibitionist?” 

The  material  used  is  sought  in  statute  and 
legal  treatise,  the  political  science  text  and 
popular  discussion,  whether  pamphlet,  mag¬ 
azine  or  book,  and  in  the  report  of  Con¬ 
gressional  committee  and  government  ex¬ 
pert.  The  books  we  classify  by  the  Dewey 
Decimal  system  and  shelve;  the  pamphlets 
are  in  a  vertical  file  classified  by  a  system 
of  key  numbers  wherein  each  number  sig¬ 
nifies  a  phase  of  legislation.  The  system  of 
classification  is  that  of  the  indispensable  “In¬ 
dex  of  legislation,”  issued  annually  by  the 
New  York  State  Library.  This  index  dates 
from  1890. 

To  increase  the  value  of  this  vertical  file 
the  periodicals,  library  lists  and  bibliogra¬ 
phies  are  closely  watched,  and  items  desired 
are  checked  and  requested  from  the  issuing 
source.  Publications  specially  to  be  watched 
are  the  Survey ,  Special  Libraries,  the  library 
journals,  State  Publications,  and  the  month¬ 
ly  catalog  of  the  Superintendent  of  Docu¬ 
ments.  The  advance  sheets  of  Congressional 
documents  add  many  a  valuable  report  to 
this  file. 

Another  feature  of  the  work  of  this  sec¬ 
tion  is  to  index  and  bind  the  bills  and  reso¬ 
lutions  introduced  by  each  house  of  the  state 
legislature.  Those  for  the  last  session  are 
now  indexed  and  in  the  bindery.  The  means 
at  hand,  we  should  also  index  the  bills,  gov¬ 
ernors’  messages  and  state  documents  of  for¬ 


mer  years.  This  will  come  as  a  future  de¬ 
velopment  of  our  work. 

Our  clientele  includes  high  school  and  uni¬ 
versity  students,  especially  the  debaters,  leg¬ 
islators,  state  officials  and  the  public  at  large. 
In  Austin  we  try  to  make  up  for  the  lack  of 
a  public  library  and  to  supplement  the  facil¬ 
ities  of  the  library  of  the  State  University. 
If  we  can  aid  the  other  libraries  of  the  state 
with  information  or  material  we  are  glad  to 
do  so. 

The  principles,  methods  and  materials  of 
reference  work  are  enough  alike  in  all  libra¬ 
ries  that  each  can  gain  valuable  suggestions 
from  the  experience  of  others.  The  vertical 
file  can  be  used  in  the  public  library  and  is 
one  solution  —  partial  solution  —  of  the  pam¬ 
phlet  problem.  Municipal  reference  work  re¬ 
sembles  legislative  and  employs  much  the 
same  material  in  books,  journals,  etc.;  city 
councils  and  officials  can  utilize  the  experi¬ 
ence  of  others  as  well  as  can  the  law-makers 
of  the  state,  and  the  literature  of  civic  im¬ 
provement  is  assuming  voluminous  propor¬ 
tions.  Other  libraries  in  the  state  might  find 
the  “Finding-list  of  books  on  political  sci¬ 
ence,  law  and  allied  topics,”  recently  issued 
by  the  legislative  reference  section  of  the 
State  Library,  of  use  in  book  selection,  as  it 
is  annotated,  and  in  many  instances  we  were 
obliged  to  select  carefully  before  purchasing 
the  books  there  listed.  It  will  be  supplied 
on  request. 

Before  concluding  let  us  recall  a  few  mis¬ 
cellaneous  points  in  reference  work  tha§ 
others  have  found  worth  remembering.  Let 
us  not  forget  that  if  our  library  cannot  fur¬ 
nish  the  desired  answer  there  are  within  tel¬ 
ephone  call  citizens  who  can ;  that  in  the  city 
hall,  newspaper  offices,  banks,  business 
houses,  state  departments  and  university  are 
men  whose  time  is  devoted  to  special  study 
of  special  subjects;  that  telephone  directories 
are  excellent  and  cheap  substitutes  for  the 
bulky  and  expensive  city  directories,  and 
that  the  latter  when  a  year  old  are  still  of 
use,  and  may  often  be  had  for  the  asking 
from  business  firms,  and  that  duplicates 
thereof  can  be  exchanged  with  neighboring 
and  important  cities  elsewhere  for  their  own. 

Let  me  emphasize  the  value  of  bibliogra¬ 
phies  prepared  by  others  but  checked  to  indi¬ 
cate  your  own  resources,  and,  further,  the 


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) 


great  value  of  library  catalogs,  publishers’ 
lists,  etc.  The  Pittsburgh  Library  catalogs 
and  the  “Trade-list  annual”  are  cases  in 
point.  Bibliographies  at  the  ends  of  ency¬ 
clopedia  articles  should  not  be  overlooked, 
and  remember  that  atlases  contain  other  in¬ 
formation  than  maps.  “Who  wrote  it?”  will 
often  be  answered  in  the  encyclopedia,  and 
the  “Synopses  of  noted  books”  volume  of 
the  Warner  Library,  in  the  “United  States 
catalog”  and  printed  library  catalogs  you 
have  on  your  shelves.  The  Decimal  clas¬ 
sification  is  a  reference  book  of  no  mean 
value  when  it  comes  to  the  dates  of 
rulers  and  authors,  lists  of  authors’  works, 
and  the  troublesome  questions  asking  the 
names  of  a  group  of  contemporary  foreign 
writers  of  a  particular  branch  of  literature 
during  a  particular  period  of  history.  The 
“World’s  almanac”  will  give  you  a  list  of  an¬ 
niversaries  for  which  to  be  prepared. 

For  difficult  questions  or  questions  often 
asked  apply  the  motto  “When  found,  make 
a  note  of”  —  the  file  becomes  of  inestimable 
value. 

The  reference  room  is  more  closely  in 
touch  with  currenet  events  than  the  public 
suspects,  and  the  reference  librarian  who 
does  not  keep  up  with  the  news  is  lost.  The 
earthquake  in  Burma  or  the  sudden  demise 
of  a  noted  statesman,  the  appearance  of  a 
comet  or  the  occasion  of  a  celebration  draws 
out  the  resources  of  the  library  and  the  re¬ 
sourcefulness  of  the  librarian  to  meet  the 
public’s  demand  for  literature  descriptive  of 


the  place,  the  man,  the  phenomenon,  or  the 
occasion. 

The  emotions,  too,  are  not  allowed  to  lie 
dormant,  and  humor  and  pathos  appear  at 
not  infrequent  intervals.  It  is  as  pathetic  a 
thing  to  be  called  upon  to  help  a  poor  man 
momentarily  expecting  a  paralytic  stroke  or 
a  recurrence  of  arterial  sclerosis  to  under¬ 
stand  the  nature  of  his  malady,  the  serious¬ 
ness  of  which  the  doctor  is  endeavoring  to 
keep  from  him,  as  it  is  humorous  to  be  sud¬ 
denly  called  upon  to  produce  “Three-legged 
Willie’s  wooden,  leg”  before  one  has  been  in 
Texas  long  enough  to  have  learned  the  pop¬ 
ular  names  of  her  heroes  and  the  museum 
features  of  a  historical  library. 

At  times  by  the  overwhelming  amount  of 
work  and  our  necessarily  limited  resources 
we  may  be  made  to  feel  that  we  are  not 
keeping  up  with  the  procession,  but  le*  us 
be  of  good  cheer,  and  recall  the  predicament 
and  comment  of  three  English  brethren  of 
the  cloth  who  had  walked  long  and  wearily 
with  no  town  in  sight.  Repeated  inquiries 
from  countrymen  along  the  roadside  had 
elicited  the  ready  reply  several  times  that 
Newtontown  was  only  “up  the  road  apiece, 
three  or  four  miles.”  When  at  intervals  of 
half  an  hour  on  three  successive  occasions 
the  same  reply  —  “three  or  four  miles”  — 
had  greeted  the  travellers,  one  of  them  felt 
constrained  to  remark,  “Well,  brethren,  let 
us  thank  the  Lord  the  darn  thing’s  not  gain¬ 
ing  on  us.”  If  we  can  keep  our  work  from 
gaining  on  us  we  are  accomplishing  much. 


